Rewinded Time
by Cookie Master's Apprentice
Summary: No," Edward whispered to the woman standing before him, the one he'd known all his young life and had missed dearly. "But...but you're...dead!" Human transmutation in Resenpool? Or is it something else? The Elrics are about to find out.
1. How Not to Start Your December Days

_Hecate's Apprentice here. I don't know what divine force drove me to write a story like this, but my muse did the work for me either way. _

_I do not know if this is an original idea or not, so please, if you have seen it before, notify me with a note if you want me to continue on or not. I don't like copied works._

_'Tis is a story born from the times I sit in my desk, wondering "what if?". The result is this. I hope you enjoy it. Cristisms always welcomed. Be specific, please._

_Another thing: this will contain absolutely no yaoi pairing WHATSOEVER. It also won't contain much OC either (none that would actually be the main characters). I'm satisfied with the FMA casts. _

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**How Not to Start out Your December Days**

It was a lazy Sunday morning. Snow was coating the world in white outside of the military dorms for men in Central. Nobody except for a few very brave souls wandered out into the bitter cold of a December day. It was still snowing steadily, in fact.

An alarm clock rang inside a room in the dorms. It rang twice, thrice, four times.

Then an exceptionally loud BANG was heard, followed very closely by the sound of something shattering, and then silence. Oh, no, not complete silence; there were a few ugly cursing as well.

"Brother," Alphonse Elric said disapprovingly, stepping into his older brother's bedroom, taking in the sight of the shattered clock on the night-stand and the huddled form of Edward Elric on the bed, covered in the five blankets that he used. "That's the fifth time you broke that clock this month!"

"It's the clock's damn fault for being such a loudmouth," Edward snapped back, his words slurring together and muffled by the blankets. "Give me ten more minutes, Al."

Alphonse's eyes would certainly rolled had he been able to. Instead, he clanked across the room and grabbed his brother's blankets. He then proceeded to yank them off, exposing Ed underneath, dressed in his black undershirt and boxers, who curled up tightly and frowned at the sudden coldness attacking his skin.

He reached out in an attempt to yank the blankets back. "Hey, Al, gimme!" the boy demanded sluggishly.

A sigh emanated the suit of armor that is Alphonse Elric, which was pretty impressive, considering he had no lungs. "No, Brother. If I give them back, you will lay their till afternoon," he retorted, then scooted a distance away from his drowsy older brother and waited patiently as the cold work its way to wake up Ed's body and brain. He had done all he could. Now he would have to wait for nature to do her miracles.

The "miracle" didn't take long to happen. Ed sat up on his bed, blinked owlishly, rubbed his eyes with his left and mumbled something. He tossed aside a few strands of hair in his face and swung his legs over the edge of the bed and got up unsteadily on his legs, then walked out of the bedroom and went on his little quest to find the bathroom.

As his brother cleaned up, Alphonse readied his clothes for him, and when Edward came back, he handed it over. Ed gave him a grunt of thanks and put them on with lightning speed, then clapped his hands and went to fix the poor clock that had been a result of his morning rage.

"What time is it, Al?" Edward asked, adjusting the clock.

"Eight thirty," Alphonse replied after a look at a clock in the hallway. Ed adjusted it and frowned at him.

"Why did you call me up so early anyway?" he demanded, putting on his boots and started braiding his hair expertly.

Alphonse tossed him his red ribbon. "Because we have a meeting with the colonel in half an hour, remember?" he reminded Edward.

Ed wrinkled his nose in obvious distaste as he finished tying his hair and shrugged his familiar red coat on, wounded his scarf around his neck, tugged on a thick pair of mittens over his normally white gloves, then glanced out of the window at the snowing avenue outside. "Yeah. Count on that bastard to demand us to meet him at odd times of the year," he said sourly. "I mean, seriously, what kind of sensible man would insist a report in the middle of April? And it was _not _raining outside at that time! It was storming, the total idiot!"

"Well, if you have turned in that report at the right deadline, he wouldn't have demanded it at that time, now would he?" Alphonse pointed out as they got out of the dorm.

Edward glared at him. "Exactly whose side are you on, Al? And I wasn't actually late at that time at all. I'm just a few days behind, that's all."

"A few days, huh? Two full weeks and a half, you mean," Alphonse chided him, then sighed. "Seriously, Ed, can you be more responsible?" he asked.

"More responsible?!" Edward threw his hands up. "Oh, fine, yeah, you told _me_ to be more responsible when the bastard who held my leash is a complete _weirdo_ when it comes to report deadlines and an impatient jerk! Yeah, very fair, Al!" And he ran ahead, his breath streaming behind him in white clouds as he did so, leaving his brother behind to heave another exasperated sigh.

_Honestly,_ Alphonse thought as he jogged to catch up with Edward, _Brother could be such a child sometimes._

0o0o0o0o0

"So," Colonel Roy Mustang said idly, although he was secretly glad to be able to kick his paperwork aside for a few moments without having his lieutenant pointing her gun at him, "what wonderful reason will you give for your running late now, Fullmetal?"

"I have to _eat_ first, you bastard!" said Fullmetal rolled his golden eyes, then fixed them on the colonel's coal ones, giving Mustang a death glare. Roy only smirked.

Ed walked over and slammed the report down on his desk. "There, your report. I'm going." And Edward stormed toward the door.

"Hey, hey, Fullmetal Bean, where are you going?" Mustang demanded in the same idle voice that was getting on his young subordinate's nerves real quick. "I have a new mission for you."

Edward already had his hand on the door handle, and he refused to take it off as he turned to glare at the colonel. "What?" he snarled, and with great effort, ignored the "bean" comment.

Mustang reached for one of the files on his desk and held it out in front of him, then waited for Edward to come get it. "I'm not standing up and go over there, Fullmetal, so you might as well get your butt over here," the colonel said flatly.

They glared at each other for a few seconds, then slowly, deliberately, Edward plucked himself from the door and stalked over to yank the file violently out of Mustang's hand, receiving a frown in the progress.

"Don't be so aggressive," Mustang scowled, then cleared his throat. "Anyway, there had been reports of signs of human transmutation at Resenpool –"

"Resenpool?!" Edward cut in sharply, his eyes widening at the mention of his hometown.

"Yes, Resenpool," Mustang saw concern and puzzlement in the boy's eyes, but continued to push on. "I want you to get your ass over there, confirm the signs, come back here and write a _proper and legible_ report, mind you. Oh, and no detour. I want you back in two weeks, Fullmetal, and I mean it."

Edward wasn't paying attention. He was already reading the given file, hungrily devouring every single word. Then he got to his feet and swept out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Mustang stared at the exit for a few moments before sighing and turning back to his oh-so-exciting paperwork. He doubted Edward had heard half of what he said, and that half would surely come in one ear and come out the other.

Oh, well, no matter. If Edward does not come back at the given time, Mustang would ask Hughes a favor and nag him into going to Resenpool and drag the Elrics back here.

_Or maybe I could ask Armstrong,_ Mustang mused, uncapping his pen and staring at a paper in front of him. _Yes, definitely Armstrong. He will not fail in bringing Fullmetal back._

_With a fair amount of embarrassment and awkwardness involved._

Roy Mustang grinned at the thought. Now he was hoping that Fullmetal would forget about the two-week deadline.

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_Reviews are appreciated._

_~the Apprentice_


	2. Unrest in Resenpool

_Hey, guys, I'm back. Note that 'tis a filler chapter. We are approaching the plot, but I like my story being well-paced, so yes, expect this story to have one or two filler chapters with little to no action. _

_I am sorry for the long wait, but I had to draft this twice before being able to declare without shame that this is not a complete piece of crap. I'd rather let you wait than giving you something you'll call "shit"._

_Ah, and on another note, I have received two reviews who kindly pointed out that Edward's hometown is not "Resenpool" but "Resembool" or "Risembool". I thank you guys, but for the sake of continuation, I shall have to settle with what I have typed. _

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**Unrest in Resenpool**

Edward's strides were rapid as they carried their owner through the building, followed closely by clanking footsteps that belonged to Alphonse Elric.

"Brother, what's the rush?" Al asked curiously as he finally matched his brother. Although short, Edward was nowhere near slow.

"Possible human transmutation in Resenpool," Edward explained, his voice held none of the usual frustration, rage or annoyance after a council with Colonel Mustang. He was _serious_ this time, Al noticed. And _human transmutation in Resenpool_ caught his attention as well. Automatically, the brothers were reminded of _their_ transmutation, done in the same town.

As they walked, Edward filled Alphonse in about the mission and the files. When they got outside, Ed suddenly chuckled, although it held little humor, all the while pulling his thick coat tighter around himself. "Well, Colonel Bastard finally sent us on a mission that makes sense, huh?" he said dryly.

To be honest, Alphonse had no idea what "makes sense" is by Edward's standard. As far as he knew, Ed had always complained when a mission was issued from Colonel Mustang regardless. It seems to him that if it was _Mustang_ who issued the order, it was already not on the "makes sense" list in Ed's mind.

Such was Edward's sacred hatred toward the colonel.

"Where did the sightings happen?" Al pressed on. Between his long strides and Ed's rapid pacing, they were approaching their dormitory quicker than a bike could've ridden.

Edward flipped open the file Mustang gave him and read through it. Then his eyes widened. "Hey, it's our old house!" he exclaimed. "Or what's the remains of it, anyway. Apparently, the townspeople saw a dark light coming off of it several days ago." He bit his lip. Dammit, why do _so many_ things have to repeat themselves?

"Looks like we're missing creative people these days," Edward muttered to himself, handing the file to Alphonse, not feeling like reading it aloud. The dormitory was already in sight.

Edward was trapped in a state of confusion; he was curious and worried about this transmutation at Resenpool, his hometown, where he had so many memories there, and where he had made his biggest mistake (which had been repeated by some other daft fool). But all the same, he rather dreaded it. Edward still remembered perfectly well what the result of a human transmutation would be. He shivered at the thought that he would have to check it, and it was a complete possibility that he would find the exact pile of revulsion he and Alphonse had made back then.

Now Edward suddenly felt angry at Mustang for sending him on the stupid mission. Didn't he know Edward had bad memories about that night? But no, the bastard just had to send Edward on this mission, for the sake of _whom_, huh? Oh, that's right. Because _somebody_ wanted to move up a seat and become Fuhreh to issue mini-skirts as part of the uniforms.

With those thoughts, it was no surprise Edward all but kicked the door down when they reached their dormitory.

"Brother!" Alphonse scowled, exasperated, setting the folder down to pick up the door, drew a transmutation circle and used it to fix the door. "Do you _have_ to do that? First the clock and now this!" he chided Ed, who had already walked steadily to his room to pack up.

"Sorry," Edward yelled back, making Alphonse release the same sigh he'd given this morning.

By the time Alphonse was done with the door, Edward had already pushed past him in a flurry of red and gold, heading out of the door with a worn-out suitcase in his hand. As he did, Alphonse couldn't help but noticed how Edward seemed to hang back at the door a little bit, and then threw a wistful look back at their dormitory like he would miss it. Yep, the very same one he'd complained about being too cold and damp and all that.

Something was making Edward reluctant to go on this mission, despite all his enthusiasm at the beginning.

But then Edward shook himself and went outside, calling over his shoulder, "C'mon, Al!"

"Um, right," Alphonse said, getting outside again, and unlike his brother, showed some mercy to the door when closing it. When he turned again, by some miracles, Edward was already down the road.

"Brother, wait!" Alphonse shouted, but Ed was already out of sight. Sighing again, Alphonse ran to catch up with his brother. Always on a hurry, always eager to move out, always eager to throw himself into danger. That's Edward Elric for you.

At least one of the two brothers was one with a practical brain.

0o0o0o0o0

The brothers were in luck. There was an express train leaving for Resenpool right then. With a few peculiar looks and a "Mamma, what's that big scary robot?" from a five-year-old girl (which made the younger Elric rather hurt), they settled down.

"Don't worry, Al," Edward said, glancing at the girl who produced the statement above a distasteful look. The girl burst out bawling at his glare, and the mother led her away, all the while shooting a look over her shoulder. "She wouldn't say that if she knew who you are." Ed snorted. "They always only cared about what's outside."

Al didn't comment. In fact, he said nothing. He only stared out of the window and inclined his head slightly to show that he was listening. He knew he was attracting looks everywhere he went, and after four years, he was used to it.

But Alphonse couldn't get used to people, especially children, being scared of him.

Getting no respond from his brother, Edward finally sighed and muttered something under his breath. Then he, too, glanced out the window as the train started rolling, his eyes cloudy with thoughts, suspicions and dreads.

_It'll be nightfall before we reach Resenpool, _Edward thought, closing his eyes to rest them. _I'll ask Granny if she or the neighbors had seen anything to add to this supposed transmutation…Winry's in Rush Valley now…God, I missed her…she's cute when she wasn't holding a wrench and trying to bust my head open with it…I wonder if I can talk Granny into making me some stew…_His thoughts derailed completely from its original track as time went on.

In precisely ten minutes, he had passed out.

0o0o0o0o0

Nightmares were, by no mean, strangers to Edward. He had seen too much in his sixteen years of life, and the knowledge of what he had done and had seen always came back to haunt him when he was most vulnerable, when not even his alchemy and brilliance can save him: in his sleep.

This time, it was no different.

Once again, he found himself in his father's old room, where he and Al had performed the transmutation. And there was the transmutation circle he had come to fear but had also come to remember too well.

And in the middle –

Dream-Edward took a step back. The middle was shadowed, but he knew all too well what was there, and he thought seeing it once was enough for a lifetime, thank you very much.

"Edward," a voice, gentle and kind and loving and oh so familiar it _hurts_. "Edward, come here! What do you fear? Why _do_ you fear?" The voice came from the center of the transmutation circle.

"No!" Despite himself, Edward screamed. "NO! You're DEAD!" To himself, he shouted silently, _Wake up, you stupid moron! Wake up before it appears!_

"Yes, I am," the familiar voice replied calmly. It was lowering in pitch. What came out next was the hoarse whisper of something that was too close to dying to say any more than it had, "but you tried to bring me back, you stupid boy! And look what you have made me! Look at what you have made your _brother_!"

Edward reared back. "NO!" he yelled. The shadows lifted, and once again he saw the pile of flesh that was supposed to be his mother.

"Brother!" a far-off voice called. "Brother!" it repeated again, this time more urgently.

Like a sinking victim of a shipwreck who didn't know how to swim, Ed clung to the voice with all his strength like it was a lifesaver. It was getting clearer. Oh, god, how thankful is he to get away from that _thing_. From that time.

Edward's eyes flew open, and he found himself staring into two seemingly concerned pinpoints of red light, surrounded by a familiar steel helmet. It took him awhile yet to realize he was actually shaking, and Alphonse's hands were clasped firmly around his upper arms.

"Al…I…I…" he stammered, much to his own embarrassment. Then he closed his eyes, took a deep breath and regrouped. The pressure on his arms were released as Alphonse let go of him and sat back on the bench opposite of his brother, worry scorching his soul already. What kind of brother would not when their sibling suddenly started screaming like Hell was coming up here itself to get them?

"It's just a little nightmare, that's all," Ed finally managed.

_Little nightmares don't make you scream like the roof of the world's dropping on you,_ Alphonse wanted to argue, but before he could, the speaker on the train announced loudly and rudely,

"We are approaching our final stop! Please pack up your belongings! We will arrive at Resenpool in ten minutes!"

By now, the brothers were among the only three people on the train. There was one other passenger in the same car with them; a short man, only a bit higher than Edward himself, dressed in a high-collared trench coat that all but hid his entire face. A hat hid the rest of it.

"Resenpool in ten minutes?" Edward glanced outside. It was dark. Oh, so he _had_ slept through the entire trip. The nightmare didn't seem to last more than a few minutes, at most.

_Look at what you have made your _brother_! _The faint voice of the dying thing suddenly flashed back in Edward's mind. The boy winced bodily, but if Alphonse had seen it, he said nothing.

Edward, meanwhile, was occupied with the landscapes and the finally slowing train. He forced the dream out of his mind for now, instead concentrating on the task at hand. So all he had to do was returning to the very location where he had basically committed suicide, search for something that still terrified him after, what, five years? And confirm if it was real or not.

What a wonderful mission. Mustang always picked out spectacular things for him to do, does he not? The charming man.

Yeah, right. More like a friggin' bastard.

"C'mon, Al," Edward grunted, hoisting up his suitcase and marching toward the door as the train stopped completely, dark thoughts swirling in his mind. The rush to get to Resenpool in the beginning had melted completely, now that he was here. "Let's get this over with as fast as possible."

0o0o0o0o0

"Well, look what we have here," Pinako Rockbell scolded with a smile on her face as she looked at the suit of armor and the short blonde boy standing in her doorway, one could have smiled if he could, the other shaking like a leaf. Although Resenpool lied in the far South, it didn't mean the town didn't know what winter was. Snow was rare, but chilly nights were not uncommon.

"Will you let us in first and _then_ begin your epic lecture, Granny?" Edward moaned. He seemed to have forgotten that Resenpool's December nights were just as cold as Central's and had left his thicker coat behind. Now he had only the familiar attires to wear.

Pinako stood aside for the Elric brothers to file in. As she closed the door, Edward rubbed his left arm thankfully and went to sit by the fireplace, trying to rid himself of the cold that seemed to have followed him inside. Den came with him, barking in a friendly greeting and lying his head on the boy's lap.

When they had settled down, Pinako's smile faltered. She took a breath from her pipe and studied them darkly. "Well, looks like the news of the transmutation traveled all the way to Central pretty quickly," she noted.

Edward turned to her in surprise, but Pinako spoke first, answering the unnamed question, "The whole town's buzzing with it, Ed. I might be old, but I am certainly not deaf, and I _do_ have customers who spent their time trading gossips." She sighed. "And with that grave-robbing business going on, it's easy to make the darker rumors escalate."

Both brothers turned to face her, alarm on Edward's face and in Alphonse's voice, since he couldn't show any facial expression. "Grave-robbing?" they said as once.

Pinako nodded gravely. "There have been talks of strange men dressed like runaway criminals visiting the graveyard with spades, and the next morning, several bodies went missing," she explained.

"Is Mom's grave - ?" Edward nearly spluttered, his eyes wide as he stood to face Pinako, knocking Den out of his lap without a care. Oh, please, no. Not _her_ grave. It was the last they had of her, since they have burned their house down.

Pinako looked at them for a few moments, then sighed and took another wisp from the pipe. "Her grave is robbed…yesterday night," she said at last, very carefully, like she was detesting every syllable leaving her mouth. Either that or she was watching how the Elrics would react. Or both.

There was shocked silence for a moment, then Edward's face flushed red and he started throwing a tantrum with all kinds of swear word that Pinako all but cringed upon hearing them, inwardly if not outwardly. What in heavens have driven a sixteen-year-old teenager to hear those words, much less learn to speak them?

Alphonse, in contradict to his brother, stood stock still, but the gloves that served as his hands clenched and unclenched, like he was dying to grab someone by the throat and squeezed. Hard. Preferably whichever bastard had stolen their mother's body.

"Granny, had they caught the grave robbers yet? Any of them?" Alphonse's voice was calm, but also icy. Edward stopped his swearing to listen, but his face was still the shade of a ripe tomato and as comical as it sounds, steam coming up from his ears weren't that unbelievable.

Pinako walked to the kitchen, Den following her, tailed by Edward and Alphonse, who traded each other a dark look. Well, Edward did, anyway. Alphonse couldn't, but he tried, and his brother understood.

"To answer your question, no, none of the grave robbers have been caught. How they managed to sneak past the tight security placed around the grave-yard since last Monday was truly a wonder," Pinako said at last as they sat around the dinner table, Edward tense and seething, his brother's composure still standing strong, and Pinako folding her hands together in front of her.

"Damn them!" Edward slammed his hand down on the desk, grounding his teeth. "I'm gonna freaking kill them when I get my hands on those sons of –"

"I assume you want to know about the rumors going around here about human transmutation," Pinako cut in sharply before Edward could produce any more swearing. "So I suggest you listen." She took another long wisp from her pipe, then began.

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_Reviews are highly appreciated, and constructive critisms even more so. Is that kind of OOC? If so, then how am I supposed to fix it? Please be specific. _

_Thank you for reading._


	3. Haunted Hill

_Hey there, friends. The Apprentice is back! And this time with a proper disclaimer:_

_I do not own the universe this fanfiction is set in. End of story. Saying this only once._

_I'm so dumb. I should've remembered this before. But no matter now. Thank you, my friends, for the wonderful reviews. I shall give no excuse for the lateness of this chapter, for there is no excuse aside from my own laziness. Now, read on. _

* * *

**Haunted Hill**

"I swear, Al, I am going to make whichever bastard did this _pay_!" Edward growled as he glared at the unearthed grave of Trisha Elric the next morning. Pinako had not lied. The coffin was still intact, lying open inside the dug-up grave, but Trisha's remains were long gone.

It was not the only grave in the cemetery that was like this. At least a fifth of the other ones were also unearthed with the coffin still intact, left behind, and the body had grown wings and followed whoever dug them up home. To be precise, Edward wasn't the only one who was standing before a relative's grave and seething either. Not far from them, a man dressed in black from head to toes was swearing under his breath and vowed upon his mother's body that he would find whoever did this and snap his neck in two.

Alphonse said nothing to reply to his brother's words. Instead, he knelt down to get closer to the opened coffin. He reached out with his now extra long arm (thanks to the armor) to touch the dusty coffin lightly. "Who could have done this?" he murmured, almost to himself.

Edward's hands clenched and then unclenched, and he grinded out through gritted teeth, "I don't know, Al, but we'll find out. Trust me on that." Then he turned on his heels and walked away, contemplating what to do next. He could talk to the chief police and get some insights into the investigation. Yes, that would be the right way to take.

But nobody here save for Pinako knew about the fact that Edward was a State Alchemist, a dog of the military, and that reputation would no doubt earn more than just a little hatred in his direction. So of course, going to the chief police and flashing his pocketwatch at the man demanding every thing to be handed to him on a silver platter was not one of the options. Oh, it could be, but it would be a costly one.

On the other hand, if he just come to the chief as he was, he would be told to, "Bug off, kiddo. This is grown-up business." Although Edward was sixteen, he was still shorter than the average fourteen-year-old, making others mistaking him for twelve or in the case of extremely unblessed souls, ten. Losing his temper in front of said chief would make the situation even more difficult. Ed would just succeed in showing the man how immature he was.

A temple on Edward's forehead twitched. It looks like complications had been a part of his life now. They bump into him everyday, following him like shadows, even closer than Al, and they were getting on his nerves.

But just like his automail, getting rid of them forever was not really an option.

"Dammit," Edward muttered, kicking a pebble on his way out of the hill that served as the cemetery. Overseeing the whole picture, he was running into a dead end again, unless he set up his own investigation.

Which means he would have to sneak past the police force that would be guarding the cemetery at night, alone, since Alphonse's clanking sounds would probably wake the dead up along the way. He also understood that if he got caught, there would be no end of trouble. He could always dye his hair and wear something aside from his bright red coat that might just as well be flashing headlights and announcing loudly "Come and get me!", but one problem remained, one he could not solve: his golden eyes.

_No one_ had them beside him. He couldn't hide them or dye them into a different color. And if he received a flashlight beam in the face…

Edward didn't want trouble for Pinako. But what should they do? Sitting back and waiting for the stupid police force to hunt down these grave robbers just wasn't him. Waiting never was Edward Elric, and never will be.

The Fullmetal Alchemist slowed to a stop. He raised his head, which had been hanging low for awhile without him noticing and took a look at his surrounding.

He was already out of the cemetery, with Alphonse following close behind like always. Edward glanced to the east. There, on top of the hill, he saw the remains of his old house, the burnt-down but still standing tree before it, the memories he had burned and had left behind.

"We had…better go up there and…confirm the transmutation signs," Edward said reluctantly. It was really why they were here, after all, Edward reasoned to himself. And he wanted to get this over with and then begin the search for the stealers of his mother's body. Despite the fact that he dreaded what he might find – terrified of it, even – maybe the transmutation got something to do with this body-robbing thing.

Maybe that was what even caused it…

Immediately, Edward's mind started coming up with theories. A crazy alchemist who had gone rogue trying to revive the dead with bones? A nuts, religious man tried to do some kind of silly offerings to whichever deity he served? It didn't sound too out-there. Edward had seen enough of the world to realize that almost anything was possible – especially when it comes to humans. Heck, a few more impossible things happen and Edward would readily believe that pigs fly.

But if it was really a human transmutation…

The young alchemist couldn't help but felt goosebumps creeping up his arms. He didn't want to see another one of _those_. One was enough to keep him vomiting for the rest of his life whenever mentioned, thank you very much.

Alphonse followed his brother's gaze to their ruined house up on that hill, then back to Edward. He had seen the nightmares his brother suffered from That Night's memories, the way he thrashed around in his sleep, tears gushing down his cheeks, screaming Alphonse's name and repeating over and over again, "I'm sorry." With all due respect to the colonel, Alphonse did not think this mission was exactly healthy for Edward, no matter which way you look at it.

"I think all this might have something to do with all this grave-robbing business," Edward continued speaking, reluctance evident in his voice, but he pushed on stubbornly. He'll be damned if he shows his weak side to Al. "Maybe we can find some clues at the site." He took a deep breath and steeled himself. It was now or never. He would have to go before he lost all his courage and turns back. "C'mon, Al."

"Um, alright."

Alphonse watched worriedly as Edward walked quickly toward their old house – or where it should be. The fast pace he was using was not because he was the least enthusiastic, but he just wanted to get it over with. It was true that Edward Elric does know fear and he knows it well, but what made him such an unusual child was the fact that he was ready to face that fear head-on for somebody he loved, dead or alive, and his mother's missing body was no exception.

They reached the top of the hill in the pace of twenty minutes. Edward stood underneath the burnt tree and looked at the big ruin that was once a place he'd happily called home. Shaking his head to free himself from gloomy and absolute useless thoughts, he marched forward and started to inspect the site.

Alphonse needed no instruction to what he should do. Without a word to each other, the brothers fanned out across the charred woods and the perimeter of the hilltop to search for a sign that might mean something to the transmutation they've heard about.

It took a long hour to find out even the smallest trace of something that was not supposed to be there, and Edward was the one who found it.

Lifting his head suddenly, his hand still holding up a large charred wood bar, Edward frowned and sniffed at the air like a dog catching on a strange scent. But it was strange.

The smell of rotten bodies.

"Al!" Edward shouted, standing up straight and throwing aside the bar to concentrate on the smell. He started wandering toward the back of the hill, only vaguely aware of Alphonse's hulking form next to him.

"Did you find something, Brother?" the armor asked curiously, noting the way his brother was sniffing and couldn't help but felt a pang of misery as he took in the fact that he couldn't smell anything. No sensation. One more human's tool taken away from him as he became the hollow shell he was now.

Edward seemed to sense his brother's distress and turned to him with apologetic eyes. "I smell corpses," he explained, then pointed to the hill's foot. "I think it came from down there. C'mon!" With that, the elder Elric burst out running, sliding and skidding down the hill, leaving Alphonse to follow him.

They reached the foothill in a matter of seconds, and Edward once again stood still to detect the stink again. It was definitely stronger, to the point of vomiting. He wrinkled his nose in distaste and was thankful that he'd decided to skip breakfast because he was too upset about his mother's grave-robbing, or he would've been hurling by then.

"I'll take this side," Edward pointed to his right, addressing Alphonse. "And you'll check the other side. Yell if you find anything."

"Okay." And they split up, each walking along the damp ground, Alphonse completely at ease why Edward pulled up his white scarf as far as it could go to hide his face from both the bitter cold December morning and the putrid smell.

Edward walked across the damp ground, his eyebrows furrowed together. Something wasn't right. The bodies were supposed to be dried and they couldn't have possibly smelled this bad. The smell belonged to _rotting_ dead bodies, not dried ones, the Fullmetal Alchemist realized. He stopped short, golden eyes going wide. Was this madman killing people? No, it couldn't be, Edward quickly dismissed it. There had been no report of murder or missing people around Resenpool.

But then how –

A very big splash was heard right next to Edward's feet, and suddenly he felt his left foot was grabbed. Eyes bright with sudden terror, Edward tried to leap back, but the hand held him fast. As he took a look at it, he couldn't help but let loose a small scream, though in the silence, windless morning, it sounded like a shout over a megaphone.

On the ground, the owner of the hand with only its head visible, was a dried up corpse with dark black hair and big, frightening eyeballs that looked like they were about to pop out of their dried sockets that were set in a sunken, dried up face and its also mummified-like mouth wide open to show rotten teeth, whispered hoarsely, "Help me…help…beg you…I can't…" and with a sucking breath, the eyeballs _fell out_ and the thing went limp.

Edward yanked hard, and his foot came loose from the zombie's grasp – with the bony, yellow hand still grabbing it, but it was pulled loose from the ground.

Chills, thousands of them, ran up and down Edward's spine, and he closed his hand quickly over his mouth to shut the scream and the vomit that was about to come loose.

Turning away from the head that poked gruesomely from the ground, Edward felt his eyes watered, and he couldn't hold it in anymore. Doubling over, he threw up nothing but the small amount of apple juice he'd had for breakfast. He retched, his nose burned with bile, and Edward remained in that position for two solid minutes before the painful retching stopped, and he could breathe regularly again.

That was when he noticed a shadow glooming over him. Edward felt a bit relieved by that familiar shadow. "Al? Is that - ?" was all he got to before a very big, very hard and very ungentle fist connected with his temple.

Edward's world flashed white with pain before it faded to absolute black.

0o0o0o0o0

The stranger who'd dealt the punch looked at the small body of the child distastefully, noting the bright red coat, the blond hair and the memories of glazed golden eyes looking at him before he did his move.

"Really, do those military bastards have to pull children into this big mess too?" the man huffed, bending down and removing the dried-up hand still dangling from the boy's leg and tossing it toward the head. He regarded the two gruesome objects with even eyes. "Drake ought to take better care of his lab rats," he muttered, taking out a round glass vial full of green liquid that was hidden inside his coat and tossed it at the head and hand. It broke on contact, and the green liquid dissolved the sinful remains quickly, turning it into a reeking puddle.

Standing up and picking up the golden-haired child easily, throwing him over his shoulder, the man bent down and rapidly picked up most of the shattered pieces of the bottle and hid it back into his coat. No witnesses, his client had told him, yet he couldn't bring himself to kill a boy.

Grumbling to himself about God's stupid ways of manipulating the mortal world, the man trudged farther away from the spot where they were at previously, moving quickly but silently, one unconscious Edward Elric swinging slightly on his shoulder.

* * *

_Yeah, you know, zombies...the classics..._

_I swear, I'm not straying from the wonderful world of science of FMA. The zombie is revived through alchemy means - more into that later. But as for now, that's all you've got. _

_Next chapter: Al freaking out about his brother going missing, while Edward finds himself in a place that he had no idea about, and he met a friendly face that he couldn't trust. _

_~Apprentice out!_


End file.
